February 2016 - our babies are here!

[IslaMann]

New group for those graduating the ante-natal thread

liberty pm me your address and I'll get them in the post sometime this week

Sorry to hear you're so ill liberty! Hope you feel better soon!

troika that's a shame the bumbles have changed, they had really good reviews

chinchilla great that you're using the shared leave - we really wanted to but self employed people can't do it (sucks). Are feeling Ok about going back?

Poor you liberty hope you feel better...
I went back to work doing 32 hours over 4 days afyer ds1 and plan to go back to the same in January but possibly sooner if cash flow dictates. Babycud will go to the same nursery as his brother. I remember looking at nurseries about this time for ds1. I didn't know what i was looking and went on gut feel, and a recommendation. Have been very happy with it and so i guess you will just know, but talking to other parents about their childcare can be helpful. In terms of days, i would prefer fewer longer ones. Which is also more economical on nursery fees.

Am trying to negotiate both kids today. Been to craft group this morning then got ds1 haircut complete with feeding baby in the barbers. Actually have them both asleep at the moment but think i remember baby doing a poo when i fed him in the barbers earlier and i haven't changed him since should probably deal with it!

Thanks clumsy haq and cudby

Is there anyway to pm on the iPhone app haq (or anyone else?)

And thanks haq

Having a major ibs flare up today, anyone know what I can take to settle it that is bf friendly? I have had half a cup of peppermint tea but I don't like hot drinks and it is making me feel sick

Oh no clumsy! Sorry to hear that. This might be a stupid suggestion, but what about chewing mint leaves. They taste amazing and aren't hot... Would they still have the same effect? I don't know anything about ibs I'm afraid, my mum really struggles with it but I don't know what she takes. How are you doing this morning?

No worries liberty, just pay it forward if you can at some point - clara was so helpful with giving me her pump. (and they were off freegle and it frees up a drawer for me!)

Hope you feel better Liberty!

Hugs ladies ;-)

DD has been very cute this morning! X

I don't know what ds2 has done to me. Yesterday he fed and fed and fed. His last feed was around 630 this morning and i've just had to express as i was bursting. 4oz off each side. Easily. Must be a record!

cudby wow impressive! I'm going to a meeting in early May in the evening so going to have to express about 5oz to last DD for the evening with my DH! I can only get about 1oz per go (both sides) so am going to have to start soon! Am I right in thinking you can mix breastmilk from diff sessions as long as it's the same temp? Would it be best to freeze it in an ice cube tray? Do I need to cool it down before freezing it or just put it straight in the freezer? Ftm questions....

Thanks newmama - feeling much better today - no idea what it was but glad it was only a one day event!! Being ill with a baby is so much harder than being ill before!

Thanks haq still not great but not as bad as yesterday, think it may be the fenugreek capsules that caused it so I'm going to give them a rest for a bit.

cud well done! I went out to band Tuesday evening and 'd'h fed ds just before I got in and left the bloody washing outside and a dirty nappy in the living room ds then slept through til 7 so it had been 12 hours of not feeding when I woke up. My boobs were like boulders so latched him on straight away on one side and expressed from the other 9oz from one boob!!!!

liberty I use the breast milk storage bags as they are sterile already, you can combine the milk from different times when it is defrosted and ready to use I believe. I have never frozen it so don't know about cooling it down first sorry.

Bloody hell I normally only get 40-50 ml each side
< tries not to worry about supply>

troika it was completely because he hadn't fed for so long don't worry. My nipples had started to go inward my boobs were that full it wasn't pleasant. On the plus side I now have enough milk to meet my friends tomorrow night

Full turn pumper here... Yes you can mix from different pumps - I keep storage bottles in the fridge, fill them over the day and give them to DS when they're full enough.

I get 30-90 from righty depending on time of day and how long I go between but lefty only ever goes up to 20. Rubbish.

Low supply when expressing would be classed as 350mls or less per day pumping 7-10 times a day. I'm not so far above this most days but at least DS gets everything I can produce. Supply became an obsession for me - water, porridge, fenugreek... I'm calmer about it now.

Vaccinations this morning and I've got a grumpy boy. 3 poos so far today and he's torn between sleeping and crying. Right now he's sleeping on me and we're so cosy I'm going to postpone my next pump for a hour.

handbag I admire you so much, full time pumping must be such hard work I think i would have given up. Glad you are enjoying snuggles

Re nurseries, I went a lot on feel. DS's nursery was rated OK, or whatever the classification was, but felt right- also the kids were clearly being interacted with positively. It also had good outdoor play facilities which was important to us. When it was re OFSTED'd, it leapt to Outstanding, so I felt justified!

I'll be fine going back to work Haq, that's kind of you to ask. I've done it before, and whilst I'll be a it jealous of OH, I know it's the right thing. Lucky I enjoy my job and like the people I work with.

I've got a small stash of bm in the freezer
, for nights when I'm out. You can add to a container in the fridge over a 24 hour period. 5 hours out, 5 days in fridge and 6 months in freezer I believe.

DD has been rather grumpy the past two days post jabs , and has a big lump where she had one in her thigh poor kid

Thanks all think I'll get some freezer bags as I can only get about 30ml at a time and will prob only be able to pump once a day. Can you buy them from boots??

handbag hats off to you

Liberty - bags should be in boots but also online - for example: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000WHJ2OG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_zgpgxbWT4D392

And thanks for the kind words ladies! Sadly he's not exclusively fed EBM but we never really got breastfeeding sorted after our hospital experience post birth. I'm really keen that he benefits from my milk as I do think it's better than formula but he gets both as I can't keep up with him.

It was really hard to begin with to shut myself away and to spend 2hrs a day minimum pumping away, but after 8 weeks I accept it more and have got into the swing. Alarm set for 4am unless he has me up first. Another at 7 unless he wakes me first. Then pumps at 10.30, 1.30, 4, 7.30 and 10.30. Adjusted if we're out and about but I need to get 4 done by 2 to make it work.

On the odd day he does latch with or without nipple shields but I'm not sure he really gets very much. He likes the comfort and stays up to half an hour without swallowing very much. So I pump in addition. It's not going to be forever but I want to make it to three months at least, and then take it from there. Six months would be awesome if I can stick that out.

Thanks for the info on classes liberty

Workwise I'm going back full time (9-5 Mon-Fri) in December and dh is taking 3 months shared parental leave from then. Then he is also back full time and wee guy going to nursery 3 and a half days, with grandparents covering remaining one and a half days. I'd like to do compressed hours but wouldn't really work for my job.

Handbag that's an amazing effort on expressing! Well done you!

We have uber grumpy baby, he got a cold on Tuesday and had his jabs yesterday! He sounds like a horse poor guy...

Wow handbag that's amazing!!!

Don't worry troika i don't think the amount you can pump has much relation to what baby can get. At the moment i'm really only pumping when i need yo for comfort. For ds1 i did a bottle a day and often struggled to get much.

You can definitely get bags from amazon liberty i had some lansinoh ones that were pretty good. Might have something in boots...

Hope the ibs is settling clumsy what is it with husbands though? Havig said that, i've just rememered leaving a dirty nappy on the bathroom floor some time ago. Oops!

Hope grumpiness doesn't last tio long northern

Cud my rational self knows this but for some reason I can't help worrying about it. I never stressed about supply with the others, but then they never lost weight and they were fat babies who piled on the weight. Dd is gaining but at a more sedate pace and is just under her line on the chart. That and her funny latch, and the fact she's not that bothered about the breast (she won't comfort feed or feed to sleep for example) make me worry, even though she feeds well when on there and can go a decent amount of time between feeds and sleeps well (but then I get paranoid that she is lethargic rather than content. ..)

So silly, I'd be the first to tell others that pump yields are no indication of supply etc.

Massive hats off to handbag and anyone else pumping regularly. I sometimes find it a pain doing it once or twice a day and hated doing it 3 hourly in the hospital.

Wow handbag that's intense!

cud it seems to be settling down a bit but still not great thanks for asking. I don't know what is going on with husbands, think I need to have a conversation with mine as he is making my life so difficult at the moment,everything else is more important than ds, dd and I, and I am losing the will to even get cross with him which I think is a really bad sign.

Looked round the nursery yesterday and wasn't overly impressed so I am going to view another one on Monday, it's a bit further away but it's the one my dd went to and most of the staff are still there so hoping that is a good sign. Just hoping it is not too expensive!